It's not new but we just bumped into an interesting video of a project that took place in 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. The "Be Your Own Souvenir: A Take-Away Experience" project by blablabLAB won Honorary Mention in the Prix Electronica 2011.

As you'll see in the video, passers-by were enticed into posing for a 3D capture, which was then processed and 3D printed. Posers could then "take away" their experience as a printed figurine of themselves.

It's crude by today's standards, as the capture device is a Kinect and the relatively coarse and stringy prints are done by a BFB RapMan. Today's scan-to-figurine tech is significantly better, but that's not our point here.

What fascinates us about this project is the emotions of the people, who suddenly realize what is happening and then what is possible with this technology. Watch the video and look at their faces. Each is amazed.

It's the personalization effect visualized. We're surrounded by an ocean of anonymous Asian-made objects, none of which has any connection to us directly. But when you see yourself as an object, it's quite different. It's a connection.

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has been writing Fabbaloo posts since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

Fabbaloo is a daily online publication focusing on the 3D print and additive manufacturing industries. We provide deeper analysis of developments in current and future technologies as well as corporate matters. If there’s something happening in 3D technologies, especially FDM, SLA, SLS and Stereolithography, we’ll have an opinion about it.